Decentralized control has the advantages of low demand on computer resources and high-speed operation, since the subsystem controllers are implemented in parallel with one another. The authors introduce adaptation to counter the effects of nonlinear and trajectory dependent coupling among the robot joints which cause the independent joint dynamics to vary. They present the results of experimentation with a PUMA 560 arm using a decentralized adaptive control law. The experiments were specially selected for a high degree of intercoupling so that they could investigate how the adaptation mechanism responds.>

A decentralized adaptive control scheme is presented for multilink robot arms. The structure of dynamic and force interactions in the robot arm allows local high gain feedback control to stabilize the overall system, and cause the arm to track reference trajectories to any accuracy desired. The adaptive law is locally stable with an attractive set that is adjustable a-priori using minimal knowledge of robot parameters. Robot manipulators control using decentralized approach is highly desirable in that it facilitates real-time implementation.